[01/27/12]
At Transport Ticketing 2012, London, NXP Semiconductors and Magnadata International celebrate the 10th anniversary of their successful relationship in the smart paper ticketing market. Over 300 million MIFARE Ultralight based tickets from Magnadata are being used by travelers around the globe. With more than two billion MIFARE Ultralight ICs sold, this anniversary also clearly shows NXP's leadership and domain expertise in limited-use ticketing.
"Back in 2001, Magnadata and NXP recognized that there was a strong need for a low-cost smart paper ticketing solution that could be used for single journeys, day tickets and tourist products. Those applications could not be satisfied with traditional RFID-based plastic cards," remembers John Wise, group director for Magnadata International. NXP was the first semiconductor company that came up with a dedicated transit specific product to close this gap in transit agencies' fare media portfolios and to match their expectations regarding inexpensive limited-use tickets. "Smart paper tickets have now been rolled out in many more applications than was originally envisaged and we have supplied them to cities like Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, Dubai, Oslo, Amsterdam and many others including the first ITSO approved ticketing system in the UK using MIFARE Ultralight," says John Wise.
"NXP truly believes in the power of long-term relationships with leading suppliers such as Magnadata and is committed to build new alliances and partnerships to jointly serve evolving needs in Automatic Fare Collection," says Henri Ardevol, vice president and general manager, secure transactions, NXP Semiconductors. "More than 1.2 billion people worldwide already have access to NXP's contactless MIFARE technology and the market outlook for smart paper tickets is certainly underpinning that this has been just the warm-up for an even bigger success story and accelerated growth in ticketing applications."
It has always been NXP's primary goal since the invention of the MIFARE technology platform to design and develop dedicated solutions for public transportation that enable operators and system providers to cope with today's and tomorrow's mobility challenges. One of those challenges is distribution costs and how public transit agencies bring occasional travelers on board. Ticketing solutions for this particular end-user group are specifically cost-sensitive, service-intensive and require a comprehensive infrastructure.
NXP's unique product portfolio provides different ways to address this challenge. Within the MIFARE Ultralight product family, the upcoming next generation of MIFARE Ultralight ICs will perfectly cover the continuous demand for low-cost ticketing, whereas MIFARE Ultralight C sets the trend for higher security within this market segment.
"Today, even banking card ICs embrace MIFARE and can be used as on-the-move ticketing solutions in transport. Nevertheless, the most promising platform for occasional travelers will be NFC-enabled smart phones porting mobile ticketing applications," says Henri Ardevol. NXP as co-inventor of NFC technology offers state-of-the-art products including MIFARE - ready for integration in mobile phones. NFC-based ticketing is combining the advantages of secure contactless ticketing with the convenience of real-time passenger information services.
Based on the unique amplitude and completeness of NXP's product portfolio (ranging from reader ICs to SAMs, from ticket ICs to smart card ICs, from payment cards to mobile phones and NFC tags) NXP and its long-term partners such as Magnadata will continue building the world's most appealing fare schemes based upon the vision of convenient and secure contactless ticketing solutions for public transport.
About Magnadata Group Ltd
Magnadata Group Ltd, based in the UK, incorporates Magnadata International Ltd, Magnadata Inc, Magnadata PTY and Norprint Ltd. Collectively they form one of the largest magnetic/smart (RFID) ticket and labelling solutions companies in Europe.
About NXP Semiconductors
NXP Semiconductors N.V. provides High Performance Mixed Signal and Standard Product solutions that leverage its leading RF, Analog, Power Management, Interface, Security and Digital Processing expertise. These innovations are used in a wide range of automotive, identification, wireless infrastructure, lighting, industrial, mobile, consumer and computing applications. A global semiconductor company with operations in more than 25 countries, NXP posted revenue of $4.4 billion in 2010. For more information visit www.nxp.com.
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